Coronation Street and the Emergence of the North
Dr Colin Shindler to give The Arts Society Chiswick's March 2024 Lecture
Minne Caldwell and Ena Sharples in the Rovers Return
March 6, 2024
The Arts Society Chiswick’s March lecture is a look into the effect the launch of Coronation Street had on the national perception of the North of England.
Dr Colin Shindler will be asking questions such as whether we would have heard of Albert Finney or Tom Courtenay without Corrie.
He will be speaking at 8:00pm on Thursday, 14 March at POSK on King Street in Hammersmith.
The start of Coronation Street in December 1960 radically changed the national perception of the North of England. Traditionally the North had been seen as grim, bleak, working class and impoverished. Alternatively, it had been seen as the home of comic characters personified by George Formby and Gracie Fields but in the early 1960s the British film industry “found” the North and the films produced by this discovery included Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, A Taste of Honey, Whistle Down the Wind, A Kind of Loving, This Sporting Life, Billy Liar and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, all made in an astonishing three year period.
Dr Shindler is an author, social historian and affiliated lecturer on film in the History Faculty at Cambridge University where he received his PhD. He has pursued a wide-ranging career as a writer and producer in television, radio and film. His work includes the screenplay for the feature film Buster and the production of television dramas such as Lovejoy and Wish Me Luck. He has written three novels as well as numerous television scripts and radio plays but regards his greatest cultural contribution as choosing the title music for the police series Juliet Bravo.
The Lecture will start at 8pm and guests are very welcome - £10 on the door. Doors open at 7pm, as does the private bar.
Olivia Freeman, Chair, The Arts Society Chiswick says, “We welcome both members and guests to this enthralling lecture on the 1960s British entertainment industry”.
Membership of the Arts Society Chiswick includes ten expert lectures on the second Thursday of every month (except August and December) and the opportunity to participate in tours, visits, social events and Special Interest Days. For more information see the society's web site.
The Arts Society Chiswick brings people together through a shared curiosity for the arts, to create opportunities for everyone to be part of a diverse community in which they can enjoy, learn about, participate in, and preserve the Arts and Cultural Heritage.
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